Rte 66 – Mount Higby – Giuffrida Park
~Approx. 10 Miles~
This trail has just undergone a major re-route, which actually was ongoing last time we had tried to hike this trail. We had managed to time our last hike here at just the wrong time. The trail re-routing was in progress but unfinished, and the CFPA website hadn’t yet been updated to mention the problem. Last time we ended up having to abandon our hike due to blazes just suddenly stopping and having to walk back to our car at our start position via roadways. The new trail map is now available on the CFPA website so we decided to revisit the trail to complete the trail properly.
We started out the morning by leaving the car at a small Trail-head parking lot along Route 66. Like many of the trails in this area you start going up pretty much immediately. After walking up for awhile and a couple rock scrambles we were re-warded with a nice view of Beseck Mountain and Black Pond, which we’ll be visiting on one of our next hikes. After waving to Beseck we continued on up Higby Mountain. One of the cool things about Higby Mountain is that it’s a very prominent feature along I-91 so ever since I’ve lived here every time we drive past it I look at it and think “I really want to be up there!” and of course, then there’s my husband who’s lived in CT his whole life and has thought that same thing every time he’s driven past it since he was a little kid. Now, finally, after all these years we were hiking up it!! A lot of times a person’s imagination makes something out to be better than it is, but in this case Higby lived up to the dream created by our imaginations, Higby was everything we’d ever hoped it would be, it was amazing to be up there. If you live in the CT area and want a great close to the edge Ridge-walk, head out to Higby. Just don’t expect a quiet vista, the highway noise is very prominent due to I-91 being right below you.
We took loads of pictures, so I guess the best way to continue this is through a photo gallery…
The rest of the hike was fairly unexciting and was a section we’d hiked before. Although partway into this section the wrist-strap on one of my poles came off. ARGH!! it was a bad day for my trekking poles apparently. We stood in the middle of the trail trying to fix it for awhile before I gave up & stuffed the strap in my pack. I guess I need new trekking poles. I had gotten a cheap $25 set figuring if I liked them I’d buy a better set someday and now I love them so much I can’t imagine hiking without them, especially with the climbing and hiking over trap-rock, which we’ll be doing a lot more on the Metacomet Trail.
We ended up being too exhausted at the end of our hike to go up and over Chauncey Peak. We decided we’d do that at the start of our next hike instead. At that point we didn’t know how far we’d hiked that day due to the trail re-route. We decided to take the white trail out of Giuffrida Park instead. When we got to the car I checked my GPS Tracking on my phone and discovered we had hiked 11 miles that day (of course that includes the 1 mile backtrack to find my trekking pole tip)! No wonder we were too tired for Chauncey Peak! It’s cool though, we’ve hiked Chauncey Peak twice before anyway.
Until next time.
Happy Hiking.
-Molasses
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